Spoils of War
by Rowvle
Summary: Follow Oliver Wood through the Battle of Hogwarts as he fights for what is good and just in the wizarding world. This is very much a minor character appreciation story. 'The cruciatus curse hit Oliver before he had time to counter attack.'


It began to rain at precisely six O'clock that afternoon, why Oliver remembered that insignificant detail of all things, he would never know. Perhaps that's what happens to the mind after a particularly traumatic event happens in your life, you try to remember exactly what happened hours before everything went wrong. For Oliver, he remembered that it was raining.

A loud _crack_ filled Oliver's ears as he was in the kitchen at the rear of the house. He looked up toward the back door as the sound seemed to be emanating from outside. Striding across the room, Oliver opened the door and peered out into the back garden, the sound of heavy rain pattering all over was now the only sound he could hear. What sound could have been so loud to rival the rainfall? That's when he spotted it. A person was standing at the far end of his garden with their back to him so Oliver was unsure whether this person was male or female. Oliver put two and two together when he saw what seemed to be a slender stick dangling from the visitor's hand. He or she must have apparated into his garden, but for what purpose? Oliver was instantly on alert and drew his own wand from his back pocket, for all he knew a Death Eater was standing at the foot of his garden. There was no such thing as being too careful.

Oliver stepped out of the house and onto the wet grass, leaving the back door open in case something went wrong and he needed to retreat inside. He hadn't apparated before and if he tried to apparate away if this was trouble he would surely splinch himself. Raindrops cascaded all around him, Oliver was soaked through in a matter of mere seconds. His face was wet and the figure that he was approaching had a couple of times become a watery blur when rain water had plunged into his eyes. He had to be alert in case of an attack so he was constantly wiping his face with his sleeve. Soon, Oliver was in touching distance of his mystery guest and held his wand up in a fighting stance.

"I heard you coming from a mile off, Oliver," the soft voice spoke without turning.

Oliver smiled when he realised who the apparator was. The finest Chaser Oliver had on his Quidditch team when he attended Hogwarts, Katie Bell. However, he never lowered his wand, even when Katie turned to face him. She gave him a look as if she understood.

"What happened to me in my first ever Quidditch match?" Oliver asked Katie, rain dripping from his chin, looking at Katie dead in the eye.

"You took a Bludger to the head and regained consciousness a week later," Katie replied, her eyes not leaving his, a most serious look plastered on her face "I took a bludger to the head on my first Quidditch match also."

A wide smile of relief spread across Oliver's face and he pulled Katie into a hug.

"Sorry about that, procedure and everything," he said to her as he broke the hug "I couldn't take a chance, you could've been….well, you know."

"I understand, I'd've done the same," Katie smiled back at him, the rain sticking her hair to her forehead "I'm just so glad that I got here in time. I wasn't sure whether or not the Death Eaters had gotten to you, or you'd been….taken care of."

There was a short silence between the pair where neither had anything to say in return. Oliver looked from Katie, to the open door and back to Katie and felt the rain hitting him over and over again.

"Why don't we go inside? I'll make you some coffee or tea or something."

"That would be lovely," Katie replied happily, and followed Oliver inside, away from the pouring rain.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Katie sat on a squashy sofa in Oliver's living room, a mug of steaming hot tea clasped in her hands. Oliver sat opposite to her on an armchair and handed her a towel for her wet hair. They sat quietly for a while, just listening to the clock ticking loudly on the wall and enjoying each other's company. Oliver looked over to Katie and noticed that she had a scar across her eyebrow that looked as if it were still healing. She looked exhausted and thinner than he remembered since he saw her last, there were dark bags under her eyes and her cheeks seemed to be slightly sunken. He decided not to ask about it and instead started up a conversation.

"So what brings you here anyway?" he asked as Katie looked over to him "I haven't seen you in months! Last summer in fact. How are you?"

"I'm okay," Katie smiled, but it didn't stay on her lips for long and had quickly faltered at the edges "I just thought that I'd check."

"Check what?"

"That you were still alive."

The silence was back, however this time it was quite tense. Katie looked down and into her mug, rain water still dripping from the end of her sodden ponytail, the towel not being much use.

"There've been Death Eaters everywhere, attacking people in the street, muggles are getting caught in the crossfire," Katie continued, a look of anger crossing her features.

"So I've heard," Oliver replied "They've been running rampant, trying to turn everyone over to their cause and killing anyone who defies them. Looking for clues, for names, anything that will lead them to Harry Potter."

"I heard about your mother, I am sorry."

Oliver's grip on his mug tightened slightly. He'd been visiting his parents when it had happened. His father had been away that day so it was only Oliver and his mother in the house. Oliver figured that Death Eaters must have been tracking his journey and figured that he'd know Harry's whereabouts as they were friends back in Hogwarts. Three cloaked figures had apparated into the living room and Oliver did all he could to fight them off. He managed to stun one of them and put another in a full body-bind, but the third already had a hold of his mother. The Death Eater threatened that if Oliver didn't tell him Harry Potter's whereabouts then he would kill his mother. Wood hadn't seen Potter since the Quidditch World Cup and had no clue where he was hiding. Every time the Death Eater asked and Oliver would tell him truthfully that he had no idea, the Death Eater would cast the cruciatus curse on Oliver's mother. Of course the Death Eater didn't believe Oliver and in a flash of green light his mother was no longer breathing and the Death Eater had disapperated.

Oliver took a sip from his mug and cleared his throat.

"What've you been up to, with Death Eaters running the place I mean?" Oliver asked Katie, his eyes moving up to the scar on her forehead.

"Oh, I've just been trying to lay low, y'know? Of course, if somebody's in danger I try to help them. I got this while helping Cho escape some Death Eaters," Katie proceeded to roll up the sleeve of her jumper to show rather nasty scars that looked like they'd come from very deep wounds "I got splinched while Cho and I were trying to escape, one of the Death Eaters grabbed hold of my arm in an attempt to keep me back."

"That looks painful," Oliver said with sympathy as Katie pulled her sleeve back down.

"So how have you been holding up then? Seeing as the war is at its height and everything," Katie blew on the mug of tea in her hands and took a sip.

"Apart from-" Oliver's mind drifted back to his mother "-that incident, I haven't really been disturbed. I left school years ago, so I suppose I'm not really a big target on their hit list."

"Well I'm glad you're okay, I was fearing the worst," Katie flashed a small smile and swallowed a gulp of tea.

"Sorry I haven't written in a while," Oliver apologised while warming his hands up on his mug "I thought that the post could get intercepted. I didn't want to take the risk."

"Don't worry, I've been doing the same. I'm not surprised if half of our friends think we're dead by now. I definitely was worried about turning up her and finding you….well, y'know."

Oliver placed his empty mug on the coffee table in between the armchair and the sofa. Oliver saw in Katie's eyes that she was tired from running and battling with Death Eaters on the streets. He wanted to get off this melancholy subject and see Katie enjoy herself.

"Remember when you tried to teach me what basketball was?" Oliver smiled, leaning forward in his armchair, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"I think that's the only sport which I'm better at then you!" Katie exclaimed, all worries seemingly forgotten as she had an actual smile on her face, not one which disappeared after a few seconds, she was grinning wider than Oliver if that was possible.

"I thought the hoop was like a Quidditch hoop and got a pretty big stick to whack the ball with," Oliver chuckled, memories of visiting Katie's house last summer flooding back to him.

"You kept asking me why the balls weren't bewitched!" Katie was trying to suppress laughter but failing.

She leaned forward to put her empty mug on the coffee table and caught Oliver's eye. The two of them were grinning wildly which is what set them off into a fit of laughter. Oliver was laughing so hard he could barely breathe and Katie had to wipe tears away from her eyes on a number of occasions.

However, happiness amidst a war could not be had for long. Katie suddenly felt a slightly warm tingling sensation emitting from her pocket onto her skin. She stuck her hand into her shirt pocket and pulled out what looked to be a normal Galleon and Oliver looked over to her, quite puzzled. But before he could ask anything, a loud _crack_ sounded from Oliver's back garden again.

Both Oliver and Katie leaped up from their seats and drew their wands. Oliver put a finger to his lips, indicating to Katie that they had to be as quiet as possible. The two of them crept into the kitchen and looked out of the small window in the back door. There were four cloaked people outside, obviously Death Eaters, a girl lying injured on the ground and another girl trying to fight them off. Katie and Oliver couldn't tell who the girls were from this distance but decided that they were good and looked as if the needed help. The two of them raised their wands and burst out of the back door.

The girl who was standing up and the four Death Eaters looked toward Oliver's house to see what all of the commotion was about. Oliver noticed now that the girl was Alicia Spinnet, a former Gryffindor and Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team , but more importantly a good friend to both Oliver and Katie. The two of them sprung into action and to Alicia's aid. Oliver and Alicia stood back to back, their wands drawn menacingly, the four Death Eaters surrounding them. The Death Eaters hadn't noticed Katie, who had wandered over to the far end of the garden to check on the injured girl lying on the ground. Katie saw that she had dark skin but her hair was covering her features entirely so she couldn't tell if she was friend or foe. Katie took her wand so she was able to brush the hair out of the girls face at arm's length, just in case she leaped up suddenly to attack Katie. Much to Katie's relief she was looking down on the familiar face of her good friend and former Gryffindor Chaser Angelina Johnson.

"Angelina! Are you alright?" Katie asked hurriedly, noticing that Angelina seemed to be in pain.

Angelina didn't speak because she was afraid she'd cry out in pain, but she indicated down to her right leg. Katie looked down and blood was seeping through Angelina's trousers. She'd been splinched. Katie had to do something, and fast. She looked up toward Oliver and Alicia but they seemed to be in trouble too.

"Angelina, you sit tight okay? I'll be right back to help you, but first I need to know from Oliver where he keeps his potions. I'll probably have to help them fight, but as soon as I have a chance, I'll get something for your leg. I'll be quick, I promise."

Katie gripped Angelina's hand tightly, then sprung to her feet and aimed her wand defensively.

"Crucio!" cried a high pitched woman's voice from inside the hood of a cloak.

"Expelliarmus!" Oliver retorted, sending the woman's wand flying from her hand before the spell had time to leave the wand.

The wand flew out of the castor's hand who was knocked backwards, cracking her head on the wall at the foot of the garden. She was seeing stars for a few moments, but was able to gather her wits and search for her wand in the long grass. She found her wand and aimed it high above her head, in a sort of triumph before getting back into the battle. It was in this time that Katie, while guarding Angelina so she wouldn't be attacked, raised her wand and barked out a spell.

"Stupefy!" she screamed, a jet or scarlet light emitting from the tip of her wand and hitting the Death Eater square in the chest.

She froze and dropped to the floor, unconscious. Katie looked over to where Alicia and Oliver were fighting. Jets of light were dancing in the air, curses and counter-curses were being thrown left and right.

"Expelliarmus!" Alicia shouted, aiming for the tallest of the Death Eaters.

With the flick of the Death Eater's wand, the spell was shot back at its castor and Alicia went flying backwards and landed sprawled out on the grass. Oliver was in the middle of three aggressive looking Death Eaters. Katie ran further into the battle, determined to help them in the battle but not wanting to fully leave Angelina's side because she was in so much pain and was practically defenceless.

"Duro!" cried Katie, aiming for the Death Eater closest to Oliver.

The Death Eater wasn't expecting this attack from behind and was hit in the back. The spot where the spell hit began to turn a nasty grey colour and spread from his back to the rest of his body. The Death Eater had time to raise his wand and yell 'crucio!' before his whole body ceased up and turned to stone. The cruciatus curse hit Oliver before he had time to counter attack or get out of the way. The effects were instantaneous. Oliver fell to the ground, pain flaring up throughout his whole body. His head felt like it was on fire and he writhed on the grass in agony. A Death Eater stood over him, laughing maliciously at the pain that Oliver was in, he placed his wand right on Oliver's forehead.

"Oliver!" screamed Katie, her voice torn between anger and terror "Expelliarmus!"

The wand left the Death Eater's hand and landed behind the stone wall, but did not knock the Death Eater backwards. Oliver could barely see now, the sheer pain in his head making him blind. He tried to raise his arm to cast a spell at the Death Eater but was in so much pain that his arm refused to move. Before getting his wand, the Death Eater stomped heavily on Oliver's face. Oliver felt his nose break, adding to the pain from the cruciatus curse.

"Stupefy!"

The Death Eater was knocked sideways and lay on the ground unconscious. The pain was beginning to wear off and Oliver propped himself up on his elbows to see who'd saved him. An arm was raised limply in the air, clutching at a wand as if it were her only hope for survival. It was Angelina. Angelina's arm flopped back down and Oliver could barely see her laying down in the grass. Alicia had recovered from being knocked unconscious from the blow of her backfiring Expelliarmus spell and was duelling the last Death Eater who hadn't been knocked unconscious or turned to stone. Katie ran over to Oliver and grabbed his shoulders. Oliver looked up at her, his eyelids feeling heavier than usual, his entire body yearning just to lie down and rest.

"I'm so sorry Oliver, I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, but where do you keep your potions?" she gripped his aching shoulders and looked him straight in the eye "I need some Dittany for Angelina, she's been splinched."

"Kitchen, second cupboard on the left," Oliver wheezed as Katie helped him to his feet.

"Thank you," Katie replied and ran as fast as she could towards the open door.

The woman Death Eater was regaining consciousness now and had stood up in an attempt to join the battle. She cackled and aimed her wand at Oliver.

"Avada-"

"Everte Statum!" Oliver was able to scream his spell out faster and the Death Eater was knocked backwards over the wall.

He noticed that Alicia needed help. Although she was counter attacking the Death Eater's spells very well, her expression was strained, as if she was unable to put up with the pressure for much longer. Oliver raised his wand and cast the same spell on that Death Eater as he did the last, also sending him over the wall. The woman was back up and helped the other Death Eater over the wall in a matter of seconds, their brief rest not lasting very long.

Katie sprinted outside, clutching a small clear bottle in her right hand. She skidded to a halt on the muddy ground and knelt down next to Angelina. Katie cast 'Diffindo' which caused the right leg of Angelina's trousers from the knee downwards to split open. She unstoppered the small bottle and poured essence of Dittany over the deep gashes on Angelina's leg. Angelina flinched in pain and screwed her hands up into fists, trying her hardest not to cry out in agony, even though the pain was excruciating.

"Angelina, I need to know why you came here," Katie said seriously, taking her friends hand in her own.

"Our D.A. coins," Angelina winced, her heart beating fast as if she'd just ran a marathon.

"I know, I saw mine too, but why on earth did you come _here_?" Katie was getting more frantic, she needed to get to the bottom of this and find out why they brought Death Eaters to Oliver's house.

"I don't know," Angelina replied, in between sharp intakes of breath "Alicia grabbed me and we apparated. I'm just as in the dark as you are. "

The gashes on Angelina's leg had completely closed but she was still able to see lines across her skin from where the cuts had been, fresh scars.

"I'm so sorry I didn't get the Dittany to you in time. If I'd've just gotten it earlier-"

"It's alright," Angelina said putting a hand on Katie's shoulder "At least I'm alive."

Katie quickly helped Angelina to her feet. Her leg still hurt when she put weight on it, but she was able to bear it and walking around with a limp for a few days didn't bother her. She wanted to get into the battle and save her friends from the two remaining Death Eaters. Angelina raised her wand and barked a spell at one of the Death Eaters who was terrorizing the exhausted Oliver Wood. The wand flew out of the Death Eater's hand and before she had a chance to turn and grab it, Oliver cast 'stupefy', knocking her unconscious. The one remaining Death Eater realised that he was outnumbered, four against one. The four friends all raised their wands at him but before anybody had managed to scream out a spell, it was too late and the Death Eater had disapperated. Oliver collapsed onto the grass, exhausted from the battle and from the after effects of the cruciatus curse. Alicia sat down next to him and noticed the blood pumping from his nose.

"Oliver, look at me," Alicia sad as she raised her wand to his face "Episkey."

Oliver felt his nose crack into place with a sharp snap and sudden flare of pain. The pain didn't last for long and Oliver wiped the blood from his nose with the cuff of his sleeve.

"Thanks," he sniffed, smiling at Alicia.

Katie had her arm around Angelina and was supporting her as she hobbled along to where the other two sat. Oliver stood up, his wand still drawn, pointing it straight towards Angelina. The look of confusion on Angelina's face was so extreme that her eyebrows were almost touching. Katie looked at Oliver as if he was mad and Alicia jumped up to her feet and tried to grab Oliver's arm and pin it behind his back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" she screamed, after attempts to pull his arm backwards failed because Oliver's strength overpowered her, even in his frail state.

"I'm so sorry," he backed up a bit and pointed his wand to both Angelina and Alicia in turn "I know the two of you have just saved mine and Katie's lives, and I am one hundred per cent sure that you are not Death Eaters or are under the imperius curse or anything, but from what I've learned it's better to be safe then to be sorry."

Alicia put her guard down after these words and breathed out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Honestly Oliver, I thought you'd gone crazy," she half laughed "I thought you were going to kill us for a moment there."

"Sorry," Oliver replied, the sincerest look on his face "What did you say when a charmed bludger was attacking Harry Potter during one of our Quidditch matches?"

"I told you that we should pull Harry out of the match, I was concerned for his safety," Alicia spoke calmly "Not long after that every Quidditch match was cancelled."

Oliver, being totally satisfied with her answer, turned his wand on Angelina "How did I really used to get on your nerves before matches?"

Angelina smiled briefly, recalling Oliver's motivational speeches "You used to call us all lads, which really pissed me off."

Oliver smiled and lowered his wand. Alicia ran forward and hugged him, taking him completely by surprise. He patted her on the back and she pulled away from him.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time!" she exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across her face "It sucks that when we finally see each other we bring a bunch of Death Eaters along and completely ruin your garden."

"That doesn't matter," Oliver replied, running a hand through his hair and flicking the rain water out "What I want to know is why you came here in the first place with a bunch of Death Eaters."

"Yeah that's my fault," Alicia admitted "Angelina and I were ambushed in the street by a whole bunch of Death Eaters and we needed to escape because there was no way that we could possibly fight them all. I knew that Katie had gone to see you and I had been wondering whether you were safe or not, and that had been on my mind a lot lately. We needed to go to Hogwarts but you can't apparate there, so when I apparated, your house was the place that was at the forefront of my mind at the time. Four of the Death Eaters must have grabbed us and we all ended up here."

"Why on earth did you need to get to Hogwarts?" Oliver asked, but before she could answer the four of them heard a rustling coming from behind them.

One of the Death Eaters was regaining consciousness. Oliver acted quickly and before the Death Eater could collect his wits, he had been stupefied again.

"Angelina, you're good at memory charms as far as I recall," Oliver said, his voice sounding very serious "We don't want them waking up and coming after us again, do we?"

Angelina understood and whipped her wand out. She stood over the Death Eater and pointed her wand at his temple, softly speaking the words 'obliviate'. She then stood over the other stupefied Death Eater and did the same. However, her ears were alerted to a strange crumbling noise from behind her and when she turned, the Death Eater who had been turned to stone by the hands of Katie Bell, was beginning to break out of the stone encasing him. Katie stepped in and cast a quick 'stupefy' before Angelina cast the memory charm. They didn't want a clueless Death Eater to get up and start asking them questions.

"Obliviate," a bluish green glow emitted from the end of Angelina's wand and travelled towards the Death Eater's forehead.

"Come on, let's go inside, out of the rain," Oliver suggested.

The four of them trudged towards Oliver's house, the mud squelching every time somebody put their foot down. By the time everyone had wiped their feet on the doormat, the mat was caked in mud. Oliver was about to enter the living room but Alicia put a hand on his shoulder and he turned to face her.

"We need to go to Hogwarts," she said, her expression the most serious he had ever seen it.

Oliver looked to Angelina and Katie, who all had the same serious expressions plastered on their faces.

"How come?" Oliver asked, the serious expression and tone of voice becoming contagious.

"Our Dumbledore's Army coins," Alicia stated, pulling hers out of her pocket, which had heated up and felt very warm in her hand, it was like what Oliver thought was a Galleon that Katie had pulled out earlier "We have to go back to Hogwarts. If all of the D.A. is being called back, something has to be wrong. You've seen society nowadays, muggle-borns aren't allowed back to school and from what I've heard, Death Eaters are running the place. That, and Professor Snape is their new headmaster. I've heard some tall stories about him in my time, and I'm not about to dismiss them."

"Well I'm not letting you three go there by yourselves," said Oliver determinedly "I want to come with you."

"But Oliver, you're exhausted-"

"Well so are you! We've just had to fight with four Death Eaters and from what you've told me, what is happening down at Hogwarts sounds much worse. So if you three are going, I am not going to sit on my hands and wait for the news. It was my school too y'know and I would much rather die trying to save it, then sit out here and do nothing at all."

"That settles it then," Katie smiled "All four of us are going back to school."

"Well we can't apparate into Hogwarts, so we're going to have to apparate somewhere near it," Angelina reminded them, putting most of her weight on her good leg.

"There is Hogsmeade," Oliver told them "That's only, what, half an hour away? We'd make it to Hogwarts in no time."

"That sounds like a good idea," Alicia said, Katie and Angelina nodded in agreement.

"Right, who's the best at apparition? I'm going to put my hands up now and say I've never tried it in my life, I'd much rather stick to a broomstick," Oliver admitted.

"I've never apparated either, I've only side-along apparitioned for the first time today," Angelina replied.

"I failed my apparition exam," Alicia spoke up "I only apparated today because I didn't have much choice. Plus, I got Angelina splinched, I don't think I'll be a good choice to apparate all four of us."

The three of them looked over to Katie, who had a worried look in her eyes.

"After I finished school I took my apparition exam in the summer and passed," she said in a small un-Katie like voice "I've never apparated four people at once though, and I splinched myself when I apparated with Cho and that was only one extra person!"

"Katie," Oliver gripped both of her shoulders tightly "Hogwarts is more than likely under attack. The more people who can help fight the better. Not once have I ever seen you give up, not even in a Quidditch match when we were miles away from winning. But you were always able to rally the team together and boost morale. You can't decide you're the giving-up type now, there's too much at stake."

Katie looked up at him and nodded her head weakly.

"There's the Katie I remember," Oliver smiled in support.

"And there's the Oliver I remember, always giving us motivational talks," Katie smiled back.

Oliver took Katie's left hand and Angelina took her right, Alicia held on to Angelina's spare hand. Katie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. In one loud crack, the four friends disapperated from the room, unaware about just how much chaos they were going to apparate into.

* * *

><p><em>Hello readers!<em> _Basically, this is a story in which I try to use most of the minor Harry Potter characters because they don't get enough love! This story is basically going to be the Battle of Hogwarts focusing on Oliver instead of Harry._

_ Oliver will be the main character who will be in the story all the way through. Alicia, Angelina and Katie will be the supporting cast, they won't necessarily be in the story all the way through, and of course I will be trying to utilize as many minor characters as I can :)_

_ I'm making the story as canon to the books as possible, which is a bit difficult as Oliver is only mentioned about twice in the Battle, but I'll get by._

_ Oliver is one of my favourite Harry Potter characters, but he doesn't get too much of a mention in the books, so this is especially for you Oliver!_

_I really hope you guys enjoy this story, I've literally been working on this non-stop and am pretty pleased about how it worked out. I'll be trying to update chapters weekly, feedback will be much appreciated :)_


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